Aspect
An aspect is an element assigned to a player of Sburb that dictates their role and powers. It is one part of the player titles, the other being the class. There are 12 known aspects, each seemingly a generalized "element" or concept, that could be considered a primal force of reality. It had been previously hinted that each aspect was connected to a particular denizen, however Yaldabaoth‎‎ has been seen to be assigned to a hero of Heart and a hero of Time. Based on this it is unknown if the previous hints were false, or if aspect is only one factor in the determination of a player's denizen. It should also be noted that Caliborn was assigned Yaldabaoth as a consequence of turning their two player session into a one player "dead session". It is unknown if his denizen would have been a different one if he had accepted a two player session with Calliope. Due to the aspects of Time and Space being essential to a session, and Echidna and Hephaestus having connections to the Scratch construct and the Forge respectively, it is believed that at the very least, these two denizens may be consistent in normal sessions. Time Time is one of the basic fabrics of paradox space, the other being its counterpart, Space itself. It is associated with the Timetables, time travel and exploits, and timeline maintenance in general. The Hero of Time also has a feature installed in their personal world in the Incipisphere: a large structure that will obliterate the game session and reboot it by rewinding everything to long before the game starts. It is a last resort, and would (ideally) result in better starting conditions. According to , there is a Hero of Time in every successful session. Dave, Aradia, Damara Megido, and Caliborn are all Heroes of Time. Dave and Aradia are shown to be able to time-hop, and Aradia has been shown to be able to briefly freeze a rampaging Jack Noir in time. It is currently unknown what Caliborn's abilities may be, though as he is confirmed to have at least one (rather large) time-hop himself in order to be "already here" despite entering the A2 universe at its death. His other instances of being "already here" may also have used a similar method of time-travel. The Time aspect appears to have some sort of connection with death, as seen with the Heroes of Time: Dave collected dead things, Caliborn/ was regarded as the physical embodiment of death in troll culture and is later known as the "Angel of Double Death", Aradia had an interest in archaeology, was dead prior to playing Sgrub, and is interested in death and guarding the afterlife (and refers to herself as "the death fangirl"), Damara appears to desire to serve and an alternate iteration of her did serve him. This directly contrasts with the Life aspect or could also contrast with Space's association with life and beginnings. Known Heroes of Time are Dave Strider, the Knight of Time; Aradia Megido, the Maid of Time; Damara Megido, the Witch of Time; and Caliborn, the Lord of Time. Dave's denizen is Hephaestus, and it is speculated that this is shared with Aradia and Damara. They are also all associated with the color red. All known Heroes of Time are Derse dreamers, fitting in the theme of destruction. It might be significant to note that although all Space players are female, the Time players are evenly split between male and female. Space Space is the other basic fabric of paradox space, along with Time. From Jade's display of powers, it seems that Space has to do with the size of things and their velocity, or basically their position in existence with regards to physics. It is also associated with the player whose Land contains their session's Forge. Both Kanaya and Jade live in similar homes, next to a Frog Temple, and their dream selves are both awake before entering the session. Having their planet's First Guardian as a guardian is also a parallel (Jade was effectively raised by Becquerel, while Kanaya was 's "protégé"). Beyond this, both players of Space have been in charge of the breeding of the Genesis Frog. It is unclear how many of these parallels directly relate to the Space aspect. The symbol for Space is very similar to the Borjgali and is symbolic of concepts relating to the roles of heroes of Space. It also resembles a spiral galaxy. It could be possible that the Space aspect has ties to creation, beginning and life (in contrast to Time's association with death). Each Space hero thus far has been in charge of creating the Genesis Frog, a new universe. Moreover, Kanaya held the matriorb, of which she would use to recreate and heal the Troll race, by starting it anew. The third hero of Space, Calliope also shares the attribute of having her dream self awake before playing the game, however this may be connected to her unique circumstances with Caliborn. Known Heroes of Space are Jade Harley, the Witch of Space; Kanaya Maryam, the Sylph of Space; Porrim Maryam, the Maid of Space; and Calliope, the Muse of Space. The associated denizen of the Space aspect is Echidna, at least for Jade and Kanaya; it is presumably Porrim's and Calliope's as well. There is a possibility that Aranea's denizen was also Echidna, but this is not confirmed, as it was only stated that she had spoken with the denizen, not that it was her own. It is also interesting to note that all of the Heroes of Space seen so far are associated with the color green (which parallels Time players, who are all associated with red). All Space players so far have been Prospit dreamers, probably because of the connection to Skaia. In addition, all of them are female. Void Void is associated with "the essence of lacking, or nothingness" and "the obfuscation of knowledge, or its outright destruction". It has been almost stated outright by Calliope to be the antithesis of Light, and actually was stated to be so by Aranea. It seems to enable players to act without being seen or noticed, as evidenced by Darkleer's apparent ability to hide a Magic Cue Ball from , Equius's similar talents during Vriska's struggles with the omniscient ballhead, and Roxy's occasional "dark patches" from Calliope's viewpoint. Void players may potentially also have the ability to become invisible in some sense, as it is seen that the B2 Draconian Dignitary becomes invisible with the "Ring of Void" as well as Roxy reportedly becoming both invisible and intangible while . Normally a ring of Orbs does not work on humans, but Roxy thinks the ring is helping her to get in touch with her own void powers. It is also interesting to note that two of the known Heroes of Void have both used the Fistkind Strife Specibus. This makes sense, as the use of bare hands is essentially the lack of a weapon. It is also worth noting that the Void symbol is the inverse of the Space symbol; corresponding to the spots between the arms on the Space symbol. All known Void players have created a "void" around themselves to distance themselves from the world. Roxy and her drinking, Horuss and his "happiness" and Equius and the hemospectrum. The Void aspect may be related to the Furthest Ring, which has been referred to as "the void". This is further underlined by Roxy's affinity to the Furthest Ring and Rose causing the under the influence of the gods of the Furthest Ring. As the Rogue of Void, Roxy is able to "steal" the nothingness from the idea of an object, and thus either conjures the actual object or creates ''it from scratch. Either way, she has somehow succeeded in conjuring up Perfectly Generic Objects, pumpkins, and a It may also be worth noting that Equius's blood is used by Gamzee to void out information on and himself in the copy of Rose's book possessed by Calliope. Horuss Zahhak also stated that he used his Void abilities to draw out qualities in himself he did not know he had. Known Heroes of Void are Roxy Lalonde, the Rogue of Void; Equius Zahhak, the Heir of Void; and Horuss Zahhak, the Page of Void. Roxy's denizen is Nyx, and it is speculated that Equius and Horuss share this. Light The Light aspect is equivalent to "fortune", and involves power over luck and fortuitous outcomes. Two heroes of Light have been able to see into Magic Cue Balls. This may also mean that Light could mean "knowledge", in the way that it contrasts with the Void aspect, although it has been stated that Vriska's ability is due to her vision eightfold, and Rose's power may be related to her role as a Seer. It has been speculated that Rose did not literally see through the magic cue ball, but that the scene was merely a visual representation of her prediction of the roll of the die contained within. The third Light player, Aranea, is a Sylph, and has claimed to "heal" with Light by helping the wounded to see how to heal themselves by looking at things honestly. This further reinforces the concept of Light as knowledge. Alternatively, Light players may possess some degree of control over light itself, or at the very least, an enhanced detection of bouncing light rays ( references making opaque objects permeable to light). Another possible interpretation is that Light's aspect embodies fate or destiny. Robbing fortune can be seen as stealing away a favorable fate, while a seer mapping favorable outcomes is essentially charting destiny. Light players have also shared a fascination with history and discovery. At least two enjoy telling long-winded stories about what they've learned, forcing their audience to listen no matter what. This behavior properly parallels the Void aspect obscuring information and being ignored. Known Heroes of Light are Rose Lalonde, the Seer of Light; Vriska Serket, the Thief of Light; and Aranea Serket, the Sylph of Light. The associated denizen of the Light aspect is Cetus, at least for Rose and Vriska. It is unclear whether Aranea's denizen is Cetus, as she has communicated with Echidna. Mind The Mind aspect seems to be related to thoughts and decisions of individuals and the consequences of those decisions. Terezi was able to what decisions will be made, and the outcomes of such decisions with her Seer of Mind powers. Heroes of the Mind aspect also seem to be able to with the otherwise-undetectable that dreaming players create in dream bubbles. Mind seems to be the antithesis of Heart, given that it is associated with logic and reasoning. It may also be an antithesis of Heart given that it is associated with action and decision-making, in contrast with Heart's association with motivation. Latula, as the Knight of Mind, states that karma makes some sort of intuitive sense to her. Known Heroes of Mind are Terezi Pyrope, the Seer of Mind; and Latula Pyrope, the Knight of Mind. The denizen associated with the Mind aspect is unknown. Heart Calliope has stated that the Heart aspect is comparable to "Soul", or essence of being. A Dirk "mind splinter" hosted in Jake's subconscious heroes of Heart walk the path of self. Calliope also says that this aspect may cause splintering in the Hero's personality. When talking to Caliborn, Dirk has stated that "I splinter, but I don't break," however this could just have been a figure of speech. This manifests in Dirk's status as the Prince of Heart, by having simultaneously awake real and dream selves, having his auto-responder AI, a robotic version of himself, and apparently having an imaginary version of himself living within Jake's subconscious. This may also be related to the role-playing tendencies of Nepeta. Although as a passive rogue, Nepeta's abilities may have had to do with splintering others, rather than herself, had she ever realized them. For example she is Equius's Moirail, with the ability to keep him subdued. Without doing so Equius can be far more dangerous than he is, since he is one of the most powerful trolls pre-Hivebent. Given that Heart is associated with emotions and intuition, it can be speculated to be the antithesis of Mind. Heart may also be associated with motivations and inclinations to do things, in contrast with Mind's association with action. Furthering this, Heart may also have something to do with feelings, including feelings of attraction. This could explain why Nepeta and Meulin, both Heroes of Heart, are interested in shipping, but this also fits into the theme of splintered selves. Dirk also seems to enjoy shipping in his own manner by making shipped scenes of himself and his friends at Caliborn's request. In a sense, Heart could be considered to deal with "personality", everything that makes a person uniquely what they are, including primarily their likes and dislikes which lend themselves towards an individual's motivations. Known Heroes of Heart are Dirk Strider, the Prince of Heart; Nepeta Leijon, the Rogue of Heart; and Meulin Leijon, the Mage of Heart. Rage The Rage aspect is most likely tied to the emotion of anger. Gamzee, the Bard of Rage, was able to enter a berserker mode, presumably by channeling his anger. This mode greatly increased his strength and allowed him to do massive damage to the Black King during the trolls' fight with him. Also, as he entered this rage, he was surrounded by a purple lightning effect and turned red in his sobriety, though the exact ramifications are not known (though "thunderbolts and lightning" make sense as being associated with Rage if used as a reference to the Norse god Thor, and Mars, the Roman god of War, is associated with "The Red Planet"). Gamzee's eyes were also shown to turn a darker shade of orange as compared to a normal golden troll eye color. There is also the possiblity that this is all just stylistic representation, and not actually there. Rage may also mean belief, specifically believing in only one possibility, or simply blinding the player to all others. An example of this is when Gamzee invited Rage in Terezi, who believed that only Vriska could be possible for the murders. Another speculation is that the Rage aspect deals in sanity or madness, evidenced by Gamzee drawing on ancestral powers to make a whole crew of jokers get to being kinda . There has been at least one clown posse in Homestuck known to be given willingly to insanity, the likes of which bear tangential relation to the Heroes of Rage. Another possibility is that Rage is the antithesis to Heart. Whereas Heart is both positive emotion and essence or "soul", Rage may represent both negative emotion and physical form or "body". Evidence of this is seen in both Gamzee's physical changes during his "rage mode", as well as his manipulation of Terezi's negative feelings toward Vriska, and the fear he instilled in John through his dream self. Among the pre-scratch trolls, Kurloz, the Prince of Rage, is stated to deal with shipping in the the black quadrants while Meulin, the Mage of Heart, deals with shipping in the red quardants. It should also be noted that due to the "berserker nature" exhibited in Heroes of Rage, Rage players also "splinter" much like Heart players as shown by Gamzee's dual personalities. Known Heroes of Rage are Gamzee Makara, the Bard of Rage; and Kurloz Makara, the Prince of Rage. The associated denizen of Rage is unknown. Hope As Light is associated with fortune, Hope seems to embody both its literal meaning and certain holy powers. The only hope-themed hero with awakened powers, Eridan, wields powerful attacks which seem to be based on so-called "white science". His title of Prince of Hope denotes both destroying hope itself, as he did by destroying the matriorb, and destruction through hope, which it is possible his white science actually was, especially since they were blasts of powerful white light described as 'holy' and 'sacred' by Kanaya, as well as Terezi's observation that the light smells "hopeful". Supporting the purported connection of white science and Hope powers is 's line that implies through the angels Eridan learned to "destroy hope with their light". Jake, the Page of Hope, has not displayed any powers associated with his class yet, but the Prospitians considered him to be providing them with literal hope, so Hope is, at least, literal if not figurative. Dirk mentioned that a Page class channelled through Hope was a formidable thing. Caliborn later mentioned that Hope is supposed to be a force of unparalleled power. With Pages having great potential, this seems to prove Dirk's previous statement true. An alternative theory is that Hope is the power of belief. For example, Eridan believes in the power of science, which would explain how a mundanely alchemized wand that he thinks is science-powered could be immensely more powerful than the actual "god-weapon", Ahab's Crosshairs. In a Jake states that he thinks Hope is " " and that if you believe in something hard enough it just may come true. It would also make sense of the claim that a Page of Hope is such a potent role – massive potential combined with an ability to affect reality through belief could hypothetically approach omnipotence. Especially given that Jake is emphasised to be highly credulous. Continuing this, Hope may mean believing in many possibilities. One example is Jake's many fantasies of being an adventurer. This is in contrast to Rage's connotation of belief in only one possibility. Jake also that " ". Known Heroes of Hope are Jake English, the Page of Hope; Eridan Ampora, the Prince of Hope; and Cronus Ampora, the Bard of Hope. Jake's denizen is Abraxas, and it is speculated that Eridan and Cronus share this. It has been that adult cherubs have wings that bear striking visual similarities to the symbol for this aspect, further reinforcing the thematic connections made between cherubs and angels, and angels with the Hope aspect. All Hope Heroes so far have been shown to use guns as a Strife Specibus. However, this is more likely just a coincidence. Doom Doom could be related to death, an antithesis of Life. Sollux, as the Mage of Doom, was inherently aware of the impending destruction that would follow the trolls' playing of the game and was plagued by screams of the imminently deceased. He also displayed remarkable skill at using the ~ATH programming language. Continuing its connotation of death, Doom may also mean sacrifice, since Sollux sacrificed himself to get the trolls to the Green Sun, and Mituna sacrificed his mental well-being to save his friends from an unknown threat. Another likely interpretation could be that it is Hope's antithesis, as it could symbolize the absence of hope as in refering to something as 'doomed', as the original definition of doom equates it to "fate" or "destiny", which is something that cannot be changed. This may be backed up by Sollux's visions and voices in his head foretelling him of imminent doom and death, as well as soon after his introduction referring to the result of the game as "hopeless". An alternative interpretation of Doom is judgement, or law. In fact, this is essentially the original definition of the word. The Doom aspect could, therefore, have some association with the rules that apply to things, such as Sburb sessions. An analogy could be Sollux's hacking skill: he understands the constraints and mechanisms of the system. Of note is the fact that Sollux didn't merely distribute the Sgrub files; he firstly had to reconstruct the code from two sets of ruins, and secondly, it is that he had ''modified the program slightly. This fits in with the theme of an understanding of system rules and structure. Known Heroes of Doom are Sollux Captor, the Mage of Doom; and Mituna Captor, the Heir of Doom. The associated denizen of Doom is unknown. Both Heroes of Doom seen so far have had two dream selves. Whether this is simply an effect of the Captors' duality theme or a provision by Sburb to players whose aspect deals heavily with death and sacrifice remains to be seen. This aspect is also implied to be connected to the Tumor, due to the similarity in shape and the implications from both of a negative circumstance. The Tumor being apparently connected to and could in turn support the idea of Doom players having two dream selves. Life The Life aspect is some kind of innate "life force" of living beings, necessary and sufficient for life to exist. Life players displayed the ability to by and have even been shown to be capable of . The Condesce was able to , and it is that her pre-Scratch self, Meenah, is a Thief of Life. If Doom is associated with death, then it may very well be the antithesis of Life. An alternative theory for Life is similar to the theory that Doom is associated with system rules and structure. As Doom may be associated with understanding the rules, Life may be associated with testing and subverting them. Biological life is known for its resilience – one need only consider organisms that live next to volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean to appreciate this. Life adapts to find a way to survive, and in the process, probes the extremes of possibility. If both theories are correct, Life would remain opposed to Doom as expected. Possible supporting evidence for this theory includes the spontaneous revival of Jane's dream self (not normally possible) and the extension of the Helmsman's lifespan by the Condesce. Meenah demonstrates a very experimental mindset with regards to the way things work (speculating on concepts such as whether it's possible to "double die", as well as wanting to stab Roxy just to see what happens), and as the queen of Derse, the Condesce is perfectly happy to bend the rules by endorsing "tactical shortcuts" in the war against Prospit. Known Heroes of Life are Jane Crocker, the Maid of Life; Feferi Peixes, the Witch of Life; and Meenah Peixes, the Thief of Life. Jane's denizen is Hemera, and it is speculated that Feferi and Meenah share this. Blood The Blood aspect, like some others, has not yet been shown to have a literal or clear-cut meaning. Common theories include affinity, affection and unity in general, such as the word is used in "blood brothers". Karkat, the Knight of Blood, had a reputation among his friends for sympathy, and out of all the A2 trolls, he remains the only one not to have been either attacker or victim in any aggressive act between the twelve players in his session. Additional evidence for affection is its use in the form of moirallegiance with Gamzee in order to protect the other surviving trolls. Karkat's obtainment of "cahoots" with his session's Jack Noir may also be a form of this. It should also be noted that Karkat was able to unite the trolls despite their differences (including blood color) in order to reach their common goal: win Sgrub. If this is the case, it can be speculated that Breath is the antithesis of Blood, since Breath is associated with direction rather than unity. Alternatively, Heart may be the antithesis of Blood, as a hero of Heart walks the path of self rather than unity. Contrast Karkat's leadership and constant communication with Dirk's tendency to orchestrate plans on his own, without the help of his teammates. Jack's is very similar to the symbol of the Blood aspect. Another possibility exists that the aspect refers to strong emotion. Some of the evidence supporting this is the fact that Karkat, as a Knight of Blood, is fighting with and getting upset with John. A Knight weaponizes their aspect. Kankri, the Seer of Blood, frequently attaches triggers to everything he says, which "benefits others with his knowledge" of emotional responses. It was stated that both Karkat and Kankri never fully realized their potential as Blood players, however, the Sufferer did begin to realize his powers as the former Seer of Blood. These allowed him to see his alternate reality self living on Beforus which triggered his attempt to reunite trollkind, implying that Blood powers may have to do with alternate selves or, as previously mentioned, unity. Known Heroes of Blood are Karkat Vantas, the Knight of Blood; and Kankri Vantas, the Seer of Blood. The associated denizen of Blood is unknown. It should be noted that both Blood players were trolls with bright red blood that is considered a mutation. This trait only occurs in trolls as a mutation, but Sburb considered the color to be normal, as proven by the Blood symbol and the blood of the carapacians Breath The Breath aspect seems to have some relationship to John's power over The Breeze (such as The Windy Thing). It was never revealed whether Tavros has or could have had equivalent powers, but since he spent most of his time in the game asleep or otherwise passive, it seems unlikely that he was able to complete whatever makes those powers available. However, as shown , Tavros' breath appears as blue lines similar to the Breath symbol. The significance of this is currently unknown. Tavros also shows a great enjoyment of flight (moving through the air), mainly through a rocket chair and his dream self on Prospit. He is not capable, however, of unaided flight, which could be linked to his class, which is said to be closely related to potential (which he was never shown to fully realize). It is possible that, like Light has associations with both luck and knowledge, Breath may also have multiple facets, making the various combinations with classes more viable, as the Windy Thing and its effects do not lend themselves too much for classes like the Seer or Thief. It may have connections to Life or living, since Tavros might have been accessing this power before attempting to revive Vriska. It could have some connection to motion, as wind, or by combining these facets, animation, the motion of living or life-like things. It may also have connections to direction, since John is very seldom at a loss of what to do next. If this is the case, it can be speculated that Blood is the antithesis of Breath, since Blood is associated with unity rather than direction. It may also be associated with rising up, including flight, confidence, and rebellion. It might be representative of freedom, as Rufioh's post-scratch self (Rogue of Breath) attempted to steal the freedom from the highbloods and give it to the lowbloods in his rebellion, and he could control animals, stealing their free will. Also, John, the Heir of Breath, inherits or recieves a sort of "freedom" from the storyline when he is affected by Lord English's "treasure". In the Act 6 Intermission 3, during his battle with Jack Noir in a dream bubble, John was able to turn into wisps of air to escape Jack's hold and was able to reform behind him. He has this power again in Act 6 Act 6 while avoiding Grimbark Jade, in tandem with continued zapping around canonspace due to the effects of 's "treasure". The association with Life could parallel that of Blood, with both John and Karkat being the ones to create the players and their ancestors for their respective sessions. Known Heroes of Breath are John Egbert, the Heir of Breath; Tavros Nitram, the Page of Breath; and Rufioh Nitram, the Rogue of Breath. John's denizen is Typheus, and it is speculated that this is shared by Tavros and Rufioh. Colorschemes Depending on the Aspect each God Tier outfit features a unique set of colors. Below are the Colorschemes of each aspect. Please note that the use of the colors has not always been 100% consistent throughout the comic and that some aspects have been seen featured a lot less than others. Consequently, some colorschemes may be updated as we obtain more information. Colorscheme Time.png|Time Colorscheme Space.png|Space Colorscheme Void.png|Void Colorscheme Light.png|Light Colorscheme Mind.png|Mind Colorscheme Heart.png|Heart Colorscheme Rage.png|Rage Colorscheme Hope.png|Hope Colorscheme Doom.png|Doom Colorscheme Life.png|Life Colorscheme Blood.png|Blood Colorscheme Breath.png|Breath Category:Homestuck concepts